How Revolutionary Were the Bourgeois Revolutions? - Paperback

by Neil Davidson (Author)

Once of central importance to left historians and activists alike, the concept of the "bourgeois revolution" has recently come in for sustained criticism from both Marxists and conservatives. In this comprehensive rejoinder, Neil Davidson seeks to answer the question, How revolutionary were the bourgeois revolutions? by systematically examining the approach taken by a wide range of thinkers to explain their causes, outcomes, and content across the historical period from the sixteenth-century Reformation to twentieth-century decolonization. Through far-reaching research and comprehensive analysis, Davidson demonstrates that there is much at stake--far from being a stale issue for the history books, understanding these struggles of the past can offer insightful lessons for today's radicals.

Author Biography

Neil Davidson teaches at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow where he is the Vice-President of the local University and College Union branch. He is the author of The Origins of Scottish Nationhood (2000), Discovering the Scottish Revolution (2003), for which he was awarded the Deutscher Memorial Prize, and co-edited Alasdair MacIntyre's Engagement With Marxism (2008) and Neoliberal Scotland (2010). Davidson is on the Editorial Board of International Socialism.